Oyster River senior wins three events at Bobcat Invite

DURHAM — According to his coach, what separates Tom Duvall from a lot of swimmers his age —besides his speed through the water — is his versatility.

AL PIKE

DURHAM — According to his coach, what separates Tom Duvall from a lot of swimmers his age —besides his speed through the water — is his versatility.

Coach Bill Reeves can put the Oyster River High School senior in almost any event and expect a quality performance. That was on display Sunday when Duvall won three events in the Bobcat Invitational hosted by Oyster River at the University of New Hampshire's Swasey Pool.

"He's had a really strong year," Reeves said. "He's qualified (for states) in every swimming event that he's done. He's got great versatility. He can do all the strokes. He can do all the events and he can do them all really well."

He captured the 200-yard freestyle, the 100 butterfly and the 100 free. While many swimmers use the meet as a last-ditch effort to qualify for states, Duvall set his sights higher — or perhaps lower.

The highlight of his day was clearly the 200 free, the boys first event which he won with ease and set a meet record in the process (1 minute, 45.11 seconds). He shaved more than three seconds off the previous mark (1:48.27), which he equaled last year.

"I didn't expect to do that well in the two free," Duvall said. "That was a big-time drop."

"I can't say it was expected," Reeves said, "but it was not unexpected."

He beat the runner-up by more than nine seconds.

"I was trying to go out as fast as I could for the first half," said Duvall, whose older brother Dan graduated from Oyster River last year and is now swimming for the University of Maine. "So far this season I've been kind of holding back the first half. I figured I don't have that much competition so I'm just going to go all-out from the start and see what I can do, and it worked out well in the end."

"He got out faster than he typically does," Reeves said. "The middle of his race was stronger than it has been. He got his best time unrested which is really good."

The Bobcat Invitational might not be the state's most important meet, but it's certainly the biggest in terms of sheer numbers with more than 600 swimmers from 29 schools competing Sunday.

One of those swimmers was Dover's Amber Long, who took the girls 100 fly and finished second in the 100 free. The junior dropped two seconds off her time in the 100 fly, which she won in 1:01.631.

"I was really pleased," Long said, "because I had been training really hard and wasn't really tapered for this meet so it's good to know that I can get best time of the season like that."

Although no teams scores were kept, there is a team aspect to a meet where many swimmers are trying to extend their season and even their career in some cases.

"We focus on cheering for everybody and we do all that we can to help other people," Duvall said, "because it's one the last meets that can people can qualify for states. So I don't really look at it as a meet where I can do well myself. I try to help other people by cheering them on. A lot of kids are trying to get to states. They want to go as far as they can and we try to help them."

In addition to qualifying for states and lowering times to get better seeds, some swimmers also look to add events to their repertoire.

"I'm trying to see how close I can get to the times I went when I was tapered with my club team," said Duvall, who also trains with Seacoast Swimming Association. "I did really well in the two free. I got about the same time as I did with my club team, but the other events I was kind of tired. I'm really happy about the two free, though."

"He's trying to improve on what he's been doing," Reeves said. "We're not sure where we're going to put him in the state meet. He's so versatile that he can swim any event. We'll figure out next week where to use him and everybody else to set up our best lineup."

Last year at the inaugural Meet of Champions, where a swimmer can enter only two events, Duvall won the 200 individual medley and the 500 freestyle, two more examples of his versatility. One features different strokes and the other is a distance race instead of a sprint.

Although there are a couple of smaller meets this week and qualifying closes on Wednesday, Reeves said, "This is the last big chance to qualify for the state meet, and probably offers the best competition to do it."

"That pushes me to go faster," Long said.

Aside from prepping for the big meets (the state meet and MOC are less than two weeks away), Duvall was also motivated by other factors. For instance, he wants to attend the U.S. Naval Academy in the worst way.

"My No. 1 (choice) is the Naval Academy," Duvall said, "but I haven't heard back yet. I'm really going to have to bump down some of my times, but I think it's possible I could get recruited there. I'm hoping."

"He's come a long way in the last two years," Reeves said. "The amount of improvement he's had over the last two years is remarkable. He's become more focused. He's done a better job with practicing and consequently his times have continued to drop. He's much more focused on swimming and he doesn't let anything interfere with what he's trying to accomplish."

Duvall wasn't the only Oyster River swimmer to have success Sunday. Freshman Haley Jones was second in the girls 200 free and Emma Rotner finished second in the 200 IM. Rotner was also fourth in the 100 free.

OR's Julie Roehrig was second in both the girls 100 backstroke and the 100 breast stroke.

Also on the girls' side, Jillian Sarazen of St. Thomas Aquinas was second in the 50 free. STA's Morganne Hodsdon was third in the 200 IM and fourth in the 500 free.

Dover's Tessa Chapman was third in the 100 back and fourth in the 50 free. St. Thomas freshman Ashlie O'Brien was fourth in the 100 fly.

On the boys' side, STA's Brandon Strong was third in the 200 IM and Oyster River's Alex Jones was fourth. Strong was also second in the 500 free.

Also, OR's Joe Lane was fourth in the 50 free and third in the 100 free.

"We've had some great swims," Reeves said. "For some of the kids this is their last meet and they've had a big drop (in times). They've seen a lot of improvement which is really awesome. This is a big meet. They get to have a championship meet to finish their season with. It's kind of a big hurrah. For those that get to move on it's like, 'Wow, I made it. This is awesome. I'm even better.' It's a big tuneup for the state meet."

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